>The 30 Countries that are competing in the 2006 joint Africa Nations Cup and World Cup qualifying series have completed the first phase of the competition.

The 15 pairing matches over the weekend produced mixed results: nine countries rejoice in their victory, while nine mourned their defeats, as there were six draws.

Among the nine wins over the weekend, Group- A took the highest with Senegal, Zambia and Togo scoring victories to stay in contention.

Senegal trounced Liberia 3-0 to claim 10 points and nine goals for, Togo flogged Mali 1-0 and claimed 10 points and six goals to stay in contention, and Zambia demolished Congo Brazzaville 3-2 and claimed six points and six goals to stay tall.

Senegal is only leading Togo by three goals. Both are followed by Zambia, 10pts, Congo, 6 pts, Liberia, 4 pts, and Mali, 2 pts.

In Group-B South Africa managed to score a narrow victory over the cream of Uganda players to move on top of the group with nine points.

Ghana and DR Congo settled to goalless draw and the former crawled one step on the table with eight points, while DR. Congo secured the fourth place with seven points, when she defeated Burkina Faso 1-0 to put her at the fifth place in their zone with six points, while Uganda remains at the button with four points and three goals deficit.

The most contested Group-C, which has been described by many Sports Analyst as the "Zone of death" saw La cote d'Ivoire maintaining the lead of her group, following her 1-0 away victory over Benin. Cote d'Ivoire remains on top comfortably with 12 points; Libya was fourth in the zone, but she pulled a major surprised when she defeated her host Egypt 2-0 to secure the second place on the table with 10 points.

The indomitable Lions of Cameroon drew with Sudan one-all away but dropped to the third position with eight points, followed by Egypt with seven points, and Benin is fifth with two points, while Sudan finds herself at the bottom with 1 point.

In Group-D, Angola took the lead over Nigeria, when she used her home advantage to defeat Zimbabwe 1-0 to be their group leader with 11 points, followed by Nigeria which dropped one step down from the table following her one-all draw away in Gabon.

Fifth place Rwanda, and Algeria which is at the bottom of the group settled to a one-all draw.

Guinea took the lead in the final Group-E, with eight points, when she forced her Morocco counterpart with one at peace.

Morocco and Botswana are second and third respectively on the table with six points.

Botswana achieved the third place from a 2-1 victory over visiting side Kenya.

The defeat of Kenya has put her in the fourth position with three points, while Tunisia remains third in the group with five points following her 2-2 draw with Malawi which is bottom.

The second round of the competition will resume next year with the completion of the first rounds.